Entity Classification Using Cleansed Transactions

ABSTRACT

Systems as described herein may classify entities based on cleansed transactions. An entity classification server may obtain transaction data indicating an entity name and an entity code in a non-standardized format. A recommended entity code in a standardized format may be determined from a remote data store. The entity classification server may generate a score indicating a likelihood that the recommended entity code correctly identifies the entity indicated in the transaction data using a machine classifier. The entity classification server may update the entity code in the transaction data with the recommended entity code based on the score exceeding a threshold value. Accordingly, a transaction summary comprising the transaction data may be generated and provided to a computing device.

FIELD OF USE

Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to data processing and morespecifically to the processing and management of big data.

BACKGROUND

In an electronic payment processing network, a financial institution mayreceive transaction data originated from a variety of merchant devices,including point of sale (POS) devices. However, some merchants mayinadvertently provide incorrect classification codes or the POS devicesmay become outdated over time. As a result, conventional financialsystems may fail to provide accurate transaction data.

Aspects described herein may address these and other problems, andgenerally improve the quality, efficiency, and speed of processing datato offer insights into transaction data so that users may make informeddecisions.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of various aspects describedherein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intendedto identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of theclaims. The following summary merely presents some concepts in asimplified form as an introductory prelude to the more detaileddescription provided below. Corresponding apparatus, systems, andcomputer-readable media are also within the scope of the disclosure.

Systems as described herein may include features for classifyingmerchant category information using cleansed transactions. An entityclassification system may obtain transaction data associated with anentity (e.g. a merchant). The transaction data may indicate an entitycode (e.g. a merchant category code) and an entity name. The entity codemay be in a non-standardized format, such as a non-structured format ortext format. The non-standardized format may not conform to, forexample, International Standardization Organization (ISO):18245standard. The entity classification system may determine a recommendedentity and an entity location from a remote data store and based on theentity name. The recommended entity code may be in a standardizedformat, such as an XML or JSON format. The standardized format mayconform to, for example, the ISO:18245 standard. The entityclassification system may determine that the recommended entity codediffers from the entity code. Using a machine classifier and based onthe entity location, the entity classification system may subsequentlygenerate a score indicating a likelihood that the recommended entitycode correctly identifies the entity indicated in the transaction data.Based on the score exceeding a threshold value, the entityclassification system may update the entity code with the recommendedentity code. The updated entity code may in the standardized format. Thetransaction data may be stored with the updated entity code in adatabase. The entity classification system may generate a transactionsummary including the transaction data and an indication that thetransaction data has been updated. Transaction summary data may beprovided to a computing device (e.g. a user device) for furtherprocessing and/or review.

These features, along with many others, are discussed in greater detailbelow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is described by way of example and not limited inthe accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicatesimilar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an example of a system for classifying entities based oncleansed transactions in which one or more aspects described herein maybe implemented;

FIG. 2 shows an example computing device in accordance with one or moreaspects described herein;

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of a process for classifying entities based oncleansed transactions according to one or more aspects of thedisclosure;

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of a process for determining an entity codeaccording to one or more aspects of the disclosure; and

FIG. 5 shows an example user interface generated based on cleansedtransactions according to one or more aspects of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and inwhich is shown by way of illustration various embodiments in whichaspects of the disclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood thatother embodiments may be utilized and structural and functionalmodifications may be made without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure. Aspects of the disclosure are capable of otherembodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways.In addition, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminologyused herein are for the purpose of description and should not beregarded as limiting. Rather, the phrases and terms used herein are tobe given their broadest interpretation and meaning.

By way of introduction, aspects discussed herein may relate to methodsand techniques for classifying entities based on cleansed transactions.In an electronic payment processing network, a financial institution mayreceive transaction data originated from a variety of merchant devices,including point of sale (POS) devices. The transaction data may includea merchant category code (MCC) which may be used to classify a businessby the types of products or services it may provide. To facilitate theircustomers to understand the nature of the transactions, the financialinstitutions may aggregate transaction data based on various MCCs, andpresent transaction summaries to the customers. The financialinstitutions may also generate payment card rewards based on the MCCs.However, some merchants may inadvertently provide incorrect MCCs or thePOS devices supplying the MCCs may become outdated over time. As aresult, conventional financial systems may fail to review the accuracyof the merchant category information, and thereby limiting their abilityto provide their customers with insights to the transactions and developeffective reward systems.

A remote data store may store a recommended entity code and may includea third-party service. The entity classification system may determinethe recommended entity code by querying the third-party service toobtain a merchant category code corresponding to the entity name. Theremote data store may include an entity database. The entityclassification system may determine the recommended entity code byquerying the entity database to obtain a ground truth merchant categorycode corresponding to the entity name. The remote data store may includea third-party location service. The entity classification system maydetermine the entity location by querying the third-party locationservice to obtain the entity location using the entity name.

In many aspects, the transaction data may be obtained from a POS deviceassociated with the entity and may include an indication of one or moreproducts associated with the transaction. The entity classificationsystem may determine the recommended entity code based on the entitycode in the transaction data and the one or more products associatedwith the transaction.

In many aspects, the machine classifier may be trained based on a set ofground truth entity locations, entity names and recommended entitycodes. The score may be generated based on a similarity of the entityname to at least one of the entity name in the set of ground truthentity names used to train the machine classifier.

The entity classification system as described herein allows fordetermining a transaction category for the transaction based on theupdated entity code and classifying the transaction data in thetransaction summary based on the transaction summary. The entityclassification system may obtain a corrected entity for the transactionand retrain the machine classifier based on the entity name and thecorrected entity code.

Entity Classification Systems

FIG. 1 shows an example of a system 100 where the entity may beclassified based on cleansed transactions. The system 100 may includeone or more merchant devices 110, one or more user devices 120, at leastone entity classification server 130, at least one remote data store140, at least one enterprise merchant intelligence (EMI) database 150,and/or at least one transaction database 160 in communication via anetwork 170. It will be appreciated that the network connections shownare illustrative and any means of establishing a communications linkbetween the computers may be used. The existence of any of variousnetwork protocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, andof various wireless communication technologies such as GSM, CDMA, WiFi,and LTE, is presumed, and the various computing devices described hereinmay be configured to communicate using any of these network protocols ortechnologies. Any of the devices and systems described herein may beimplemented, in whole or in part, using one or more computing devicesdescribed with respect to FIG. 2.

Merchant devices 110 may submit transaction information related to atransaction such as a transaction identifier, a transaction amount, anentity identifier or name (e.g. merchant name), an entity code (e.g.merchant category code (MCC)), a transaction location, and/or atransaction timestamp. In some examples, merchant devices 120 may alsosend an indication of one or more products associated with atransaction. The entity code, such as an MCC, may be in a first dataformat, such as a text format, non-structured format or anon-standardized format. For example, an MCC may be a four-digit numberused by credit card companies to classify businesses into marketsegments. The MCC may indicate the types of services or goods being soldto customers. The financial intuitions may use these MCCs to classifytransactions. Different merchants may use different merchantclassifications for the similar products or services. For example, afirst merchant may use a first MCC to define a catering service itprovides to the customers while a second merchant may use a second,different MCC to define its catering service. One or both of the firstMCC and second MCC transmitted in the raw transaction data may be in anon-standardized format. That is, both the first MCC and the second MCCutilize different codes to identify the same class of service providedby a merchant, creating ambiguity and complicating classification of thetransaction. Further, it is possible that one or both of the MCCs useddo not conform to a standard classification code for the class ofservice as described herein.

Some merchant devices 110 may be a Point of Sale (POS) device located ata merchant. The merchant may be a small business merchant, such as aconvenience store, a coffee shop, a gas station, a farmer's market, etc.These merchants may assign the entity codes such as MCCs to representthe types of the services or goods provided by the merchants on a perPOS basis. The MCCs may become outdated over time. In some examples, amerchant may program the POS device incorrectly, and inadvertentlysubmit the wrong MCC. In some examples, a merchant may purchase orinherit a POS device from another business, and may subsequently fail toupdate the MCC to match the MCC of the new business. In a variety ofembodiments, MCCs may be used to generate a reward system, such ascredit card rewards. An incorrect classification of MCCs may result inthe customers to receive incorrect rewards. In a variety of embodiments,MCCs may be used to indicate categories of previous purchases on thetransaction summaries to be displayed to a customer. An incorrect MCCmay cause the financial institution to display an inaccurate transactionsummary. In a variety of embodiments, MCCs may be used to determine feesto be charged to a merchant on a per transaction basis. Likewise, theincorrect MCC may cause the incorrect fees to be charged to themerchant.

User devices 120 may be any device that belongs to a customer of afinancial institution. The customers may conduct transactions withmerchant devices 110 using user devices 120. For example, a customer maybring the user devices 120 to the vicinity of a POS device and submitpayment information to the POS device. The customer may make an onlinepayment using user devices 120 that submit the payment information tomerchant devices 110. User devices 120 may receive a transaction summaryindicating categories of previously conducted purchases. User devices120 may receive information on reward program that the customers may beeligible to participate. User devices 120 may include computing devices,such as laptop computers, desktop computers, mobile devices, smartphones, tablets, and the like. According to some examples, user devices120 may include hardware and software that allow them to connectdirectly to network 170. Alternatively, user devices 120 may connect toa local device, such as a personal computer, server, or other computingdevice, which connects to network 170.

Entity classification server 130 may receive transaction informationcontaining raw transaction data from merchant devices 110 from aplurality of merchants. Entity classification server 130 may attempt toclean the raw transaction data. The raw transaction data may be in theform of a line of data that offers limited information about thetransaction, with each piece of information appearing in certainlocations within the line of data. For example, an entity identifier mayappear in a specific location and may include 8-10 characters in theabbreviated form. The entity identifier may not be readily recognizableas a meaningful merchant name, particularly for small businessmerchants. Entity classification server 130 may process this abbreviatedmerchant identifier and convert it into a meaningful merchant name in ahuman readable format.

Entity classification server 130 may retrieve a recommended entity code(e.g. MCC) and entity location (e.g. merchant location) from a remotedata store based on the merchant name. The recommended entity code maybe in a standardized format. For example, the recommended entity codemay an MCC based on the ISO:18245 standard. Although MCCs may vary bythe financial institutions who issue the payment cards (e.g. creditcards), there may be some commonalities among these MCCs. ISO:18245 isan International Standardization Organization (ISO) standard concerningthe assignment of MCC in retail financial services. ISO 18245:2003defines code values used to enable the classification of merchants intospecific categories based on the type of business, trade or servicessupplied, such as: MCCs 0001-1499: Agricultural Services; MCCs1500-2999: Contracted Services; MCCs 4000-4799: Transportation Services;MCCs 4800-4999: Utility Services; MCCs 5000-5599: Retail OutletServices; MCCs 5600-5699: Clothing Stores; MCCs 5700-7299: MiscellaneousStores; MCCs 7300-7999: Business Services; MCCs 8000-8999: ProfessionalServices and Membership Organizations; and MCCs 9000-9999: GovernmentServices.

Entity classification server 130 may use a machine classifier togenerate a score indicating a likelihood that the recommended entitycode correctly identifiers the entity in the transaction data. Entityclassification server 130 may take in location attributions and merchantnames, and may identify the closest match for a known merchant to thetransaction. For example, the machine classifier may be trained using aset of ground truth entity locations, entity names and recommendedentity codes. The score may be generated based on a similarity of theentity name to at least one of the entity names in the set of groundtruth entity names. Entity classification server 130 may update theentity code in the transaction data with the recommended entity code,after determining that the score exceeding a threshold value. Theupdated entity code may be in a standardized format, such as an XML orJSON format. The updated entity code may also be an MCC based on ISO18245:2003 standard.

Entity classification server 130 may generate a transaction summaryincluding the transaction data and an indication that the transactiondata has been updated. For example, the transaction summary may displaycategories of previously conducted purchases made by a customer. Entityclassification server 130 may determine a transaction category for thetransaction based on the updated entity code. Entity classificationserver 130 may classify the transaction data in the transaction summarybased on the transaction category. The transaction summary may includeone or more reward programs that the customer may be eligible toparticipate. Entity classification server 130 may improve the quality ofthe transaction summary based on the updated transaction data.

Remote data store 140 may store entity codes and entity locations, suchas MCCs and merchant locations associated with the merchants. Remotedata store 140 may include a third-party service that may provide themerchant information such as the recommended MCC, merchant names, and/ormerchant locations. Entity classification server 130 may determine therecommended MCC by querying the third-party service to obtain an MCCcorresponding to the entity name. Remote data store 140 may include anentity database, such as a merchant database. Entity classificationserver 130 may determine the recommended MCC by querying the entitydatabase to obtain a ground truth MCC corresponding to the entity name.Remote data store 140 may include a third-party location service. Entityclassification server 130 may determine the entity location by queryingthe third-party location service to obtain the entity locationcorresponding to the entity name.

Enterprise merchant intelligence (EMI) database 150 may store merchantrecords related to various merchants, including small businessmerchants. EMI database 150 may be a merchant database that storesenterprise merchant intelligence records, which may in turn include amerchant identifier, a friendly merchant name, a zip code, a physicaladdress, a phone number, an email or other contact information of themerchants, and/or a corresponding MCC. As discussed above, entityclassification server 130 may update an entity code in a transactionwith a recommended MCC and the updated entity code may be in astandardized format. Entity classification server 130 may subsequentlystore the corresponding merchant information corresponding to thetransaction data in EMI database 150.

In a variety of embodiments, entity classification server 130 may builda proprietary EMI database 150, for example, based on an aggregation oftransaction records received in the transaction stream. As a transactionarrives from a transaction stream, the corresponding transaction recordmay be processed, cleaned, and/or enhanced with a variety of services.In a variety of embodiments, entity classification server 130 may use athird-party API to gather merchant information, such as an MCC, amerchant address or contact information, to be stored in EMI database150. In a variety of embodiments, entity classification server 130 maymaintain static merchant information, such as a merchant identifier andmerchant name, in its proprietary EMI database 150 and entityclassification server 130 may use the third-party API to get merchantaddress, merchant social media handle, MCCs, or other merchantinformation that may change over time.

Transaction database 160 may store transaction records related totransactions previously conducted by customers in transaction streamsfrom a plurality of merchants. Transaction database 160 may receive arequest from entity classification servers 130 and retrieve thecorresponding transaction records in the transaction streams. Thetransaction records may each contain an account identifier, atransaction amount, a transaction time, a merchant identifier, MCC,etc., where the MCC may be in a non-standardized format. After the MCCis updated with the updated entity code in a standardized format, thecorresponding transaction record may be stored in transaction database160 with an indication that the transaction data has been updated.

Merchant devices 110, user devices 120, entity classification server130, remote data store 140, EMI database 150, and/or transactiondatabase 160 may be associated with a particular authentication session.Entity classification server 130 may receive, process, and/or store avariety of transaction records, merchant intelligence information andlocation information, and/or receive transaction records with merchantdevices 110 as described herein. However, it should be noted that anydevice in system 100 may perform any of the processes and/or store anydata as described herein. Some or all of the data described herein maybe stored using one or more databases. Databases may include, but arenot limited to relational databases, hierarchical databases, distributeddatabases, in-memory databases, flat file databases, XML databases,NoSQL databases, graph databases, and/or a combination thereof. Thenetwork 170 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a wireless telecommunications network, and/or any othercommunication network or combination thereof.

The data transferred to and from various computing devices in system 100may include secure and sensitive data, such as confidential documents,customer personally identifiable information, and account data.Therefore, it may be desirable to protect transmissions of such datausing secure network protocols and encryption, and/or to protect theintegrity of the data when stored on the various computing devices. Afile-based integration scheme or a service-based integration scheme maybe utilized for transmitting data between the various computing devices.Data may be transmitted using various network communication protocols.Secure data transmission protocols and/or encryption may be used in filetransfers to protect the integrity of the data such as, but not limitedto, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP),and/or Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption. In many embodiments, one ormore web services may be implemented within the various computingdevices. Web services may be accessed by authorized external devices andusers to support input, extraction, and manipulation of data between thevarious computing devices in the data sharing system 100. Web servicesbuilt to support a personalized display system may be cross-domainand/or cross-platform, and may be built for enterprise use. Data may betransmitted using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport LayerSecurity (TLS) protocol to provide secure connections between thecomputing devices. Web services may be implemented using the WS-Securitystandard, providing for secure SOAP messages using XML encryption.Specialized hardware may be used to provide secure web services. Securenetwork appliances may include built-in features such ashardware-accelerated SSL and HTTPS, WS-Security, and/or firewalls. Suchspecialized hardware may be installed and configured in system 100 infront of one or more computing devices such that any external devicesmay communicate directly with the specialized hardware.

Computing Devices

Turning now to FIG. 2, a computing device 200 that may be used with oneor more of the computational systems is described. The computing device200 may include a processor 203 for controlling overall operation of thecomputing device 200 and its associated components, including RAM 205,ROM 207, input/output device 209, communication interface 211, and/ormemory 215. A data bus may interconnect processor(s) 203, RAM 205, ROM207, memory 215, I/O device 209, and/or communication interface 211. Insome embodiments, computing device 200 may represent, be incorporatedin, and/or include various devices such as a desktop computer, acomputer server, a mobile device, such as a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a smart phone, any other types of mobile computing devices,and the like, and/or any other type of data processing device.

Input/output (I/O) device 209 may include a microphone, keypad, touchscreen, and/or stylus through which a user of the computing device 200may provide input, and may also include one or more of a speaker forproviding audio output and a video display device for providing textual,audiovisual, and/or graphical output. Software may be stored withinmemory 215 to provide instructions to processor 203 allowing computingdevice 200 to perform various actions. Memory 215 may store softwareused by the computing device 200, such as an operating system 217,application programs 219, and/or an associated internal database 221.The various hardware memory units in memory 215 may include volatile andnonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any methodor technology for storage of information such as computer-readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Memory215 may include one or more physical persistent memory devices and/orone or more non-persistent memory devices. Memory 215 may include, butis not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 205, read only memory(ROM) 207, electronically erasable programmable read only memory(EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, optical disk storage,magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or othermagnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to storethe desired information and that may be accessed by processor 203.

Communication interface 211 may include one or more transceivers,digital signal processors, and/or additional circuitry and software forcommunicating via any network, wired or wireless, using any protocol asdescribed herein.

Processor 203 may include a single central processing unit (CPU), whichmay be a single-core or multi-core processor, or may include multipleCPUs. Processor(s) 203 and associated components may allow the computingdevice 200 to execute a series of computer-readable instructions toperform some or all of the processes described herein. Although notshown in FIG. 2, various elements within memory 215 or other componentsin computing device 200, may include one or more caches including, butnot limited to, CPU caches used by the processor 203, page caches usedby the operating system 217, disk caches of a hard drive, and/ordatabase caches used to cache content from database 221. For embodimentsincluding a CPU cache, the CPU cache may be used by one or moreprocessors 203 to reduce memory latency and access time. A processor 203may retrieve data from or write data to the CPU cache rather thanreading/writing to memory 215, which may improve the speed of theseoperations. In some examples, a database cache may be created in whichcertain data from a database 221 is cached in a separate smallerdatabase in a memory separate from the database, such as in RAM 205 oron a separate computing device. For instance, in a multi-tieredapplication, a database cache on an application server may reduce dataretrieval and data manipulation time by not needing to communicate overa network with a back-end database server. These types of caches andothers may be included in various embodiments, and may provide potentialadvantages in certain implementations of devices, systems, and methodsdescribed herein, such as faster response times and less dependence onnetwork conditions when transmitting and receiving data.

Although various components of computing device 200 are describedseparately, functionality of the various components may be combinedand/or performed by a single component and/or multiple computing devicesin communication without departing from the invention.

Classifying Entities Based on Cleansed Transactions

The entity classification system may use raw transaction data and rawmerchant information, and resolve them to an internal merchant database,such as the EMI database. The entity classification system may alsocompare the raw merchant data to a third-party database and score eachmerchant record for a transaction using a machine classifier. The entityclassification system may correct transactions associated with theinternal merchant information or third-party merchant based on themachine classifier score. The machine classifier may be trained onlocation similarity, merchant name similarity, and/or transaction (e.g.shopping cart) similarity to probabilistically determine the appropriatemerchant and particular MCC. As such, the entity classification systemmay use merchant information, such as location attributes and merchantnames, to find the closest match for a known merchant associated withthe transaction.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of a process for predicting impacts to asupply chain by analyzing current events according to one or moreaspects of the disclosure. Some or all of the steps of process 300 maybe performed using one or more computing devices as described herein. Ina variety of embodiments, some or all of the steps described below maybe combined and/or divided into sub-steps as appropriate.

At step 310, an entity classification server may obtain transaction dataassociated with an entity (e.g. merchant). The transaction data mayindicate an entity code (e.g. MCC) and an entity name (e.g. merchantname). The transaction data may also include an indication of one ormore products associated with the transaction. For example, thetransaction may be associated with an online transaction and a merchantshopping cart application may send the transaction data including theindication of one or more products to the entity classification server.The raw transaction data may be in the form of a line of data thatoffers limited information about the transaction, with each piece ofinformation appearing in certain locations within the line of data. Theentity classification server may perform a cleansing process to extractthe merchant information from specific location of the line of data. Forexample, the entity classification server may extract a merchantidentifier, which may include 8-10 characters in the abbreviated form.The entity classification server may process this abbreviated merchantidentifier and convert it into a meaningful merchant name. The entityclassification server may query the EMI database to obtain the relevantmerchant information. The entity classification server may also extractthe MCC from the line of data. The MCC extracted from the rawtransaction data may be in a text format, a non-structured format, or anon-standardized format.

In a variety of embodiments, MCCs may be assigned by a payment networkwhen the merchants set up a credit card payment system. Card-issuingfinancial intuitions may not have control over how MCCs are assigned bythe merchants and may not have the ability to change them after theassignment. MCCs may be used in the rewards system by the financialinstitutions. For example, a purchase of candy in a candy store may becoded differently than a purchase of candy at a supermarket, which mayhave different MCCs. When a customer uses a payment card to buy a MilkyWay at a local grocery store, she may not earn bonus rewards that thecustomer may normally get at a candy store.

In a variety of embodiments, MCCs may be associated with an industrysegment, such as catering, or personal services. MCCs may be associatedwith a specific type of goods or service that the merchants provide inthe industry segment. For example, thebuilding/electrical/plumbing/heating industry segment may includegeneral contractors, electrical contractors, masonry/tile/plasterinstallers, and/or carpentry etc.

In a variety of embodiments, MCCs in the transaction data may be in anon-standardized format. MCCs may vary by the merchants, where differentmerchants providing the similar type of products or services may usedifferent MCCs. For example, merchant 1 and merchant 2 may both providesimilar type of services (e.g. building/electrical/plumbing/heating).Merchant 1 may use MCC code 1 while merchant 2 may use MCC code 2 torepresent similar type of services in the transaction data. MCCs mayvary by the financial institutions who issue the payment cards. Forexample, merchant 3 who is an electrical contractor may use MCC code 3for American Express related transactions. Merchant 3 may use MCC code 4for Master Card related transactions. Some financial institutions maynot assign MCCs to the merchants. For example, if a customer uses aDiscover Card to make purchases at a merchant that may otherwise fit ina rewards category, the merchant may not have an assigned MCC in thatrewards category. MCCs may be assigned to the merchants with incorrectMCCs, and the financial institutions may not have the ability to changethe MCCs after the assignment. For example, the merchants may program apayment terminal with an incorrect MCC. MCCs may also become outdatedover time. For example, a merchant may acquire a payment terminal fromanother business and may fail to update the MCC to match the category ofthe current business.

At step 312, the entity classification server may determine arecommended entity code (e.g. MCC) and an entity location (e.g. merchantaddress). The entity classification may query a remote data store andretrieve the merchant information based on the merchant name. Therecommended entity code, such as an MCC, may be in a standardizedformat. For example, the remote data store may return an MCC for thenamed merchant and the MCC may be defined according to ISO 18245:2003standard. The remote data store may include a third-party service thatmay provide the recommended MCC in the standardized format and themerchant location based on the merchant name. The remote data store mayinclude an entity database such as a merchant database or the EMIdatabase. The entity classification server may query the entity databaseto obtain a ground truth MCC in the standardized format corresponding tothe entity name. The remote data store may include a third-partylocation service that may provide the merchant location based on themerchant name.

At step 314, the entity classification server may determine whether therecommended entity code differs from the entity code in extracted fromthe raw transaction data. If the recommended entity code is notdifferent from the entity code in the transaction data (step 314=No),the process may proceed to step 326, where the entity classificationserver may generate a transaction summary including the transactiondata. The transaction summary may indicate categories of previouslyconducted purchases made by a customer. The transaction data may beclassified based on the entity code and the transaction summary may beprovided to the user device. The transaction summary may include one ormore reward programs that the customer may be eligible to participate.If the recommended entity code is different from the entity code in thetransaction data (step 314=Yes), the process may proceed to step 316.

At step 316, the entity classification server may generate a scoreindicating a likelihood that the recommended entity code correctlyidentifies the entity in the transaction data. The entity classificationserver may use a machine classifier to generate the score based on theentity location. The machine classifier may be a supervised machinelearning classifier and/or an unsupervised machine learning classifier.The machine classifier may use the merchant location, merchant names,the recommended MCC, and the like as inputs to the machine classifier.The machine classifier may use additional input, such as one or moreproducts associated with the transaction. It should be readily apparentto one having ordinary skill in the art that a variety of machineclassifier architectures can be utilized including (but not limited to)decision trees, k-nearest neighbors, support vector machines (SVM),neural networks (NN), recurrent neural networks (RNN), convolutionalneural networks (CNN), probabilistic neural networks (PNN), transformermodels, and the like. RNNs can further include (but are not limited to)fully recurrent networks, Hopfield networks, Boltzmann machines,self-organizing maps, learning vector quantization, simple recurrentnetworks, echo state networks, long short-term memory networks,bi-directional RNNs, hierarchical RNNs, stochastic neural networks,and/or genetic scale RNNs. In a number of embodiments, a combination ofmachine classifiers can be utilized, more specific machine classifierswhen available, and general machine classifiers at other times canfurther increase the accuracy of predictions.

Merchant records in the EMI database and/or transaction records in thetransaction database may be used as training data that is fed into themachine classifier. The training data may include a set of ground truthentity locations (e.g. merchant locations), entity names (e.g. merchantnames), and/or recommended entity codes (e.g. MCCs). The machineclassifier may also determine a score (e.g. a confidence score) toindicate the degree at which the recommended entity code correctlyidentifies the entity in the transaction data. The machine classifiermay be tuned based on the confidence score exceeding a threshold value.The machine classifier may be trained based on a set of ground truthentity locations, entity names, and recommended entity codes. Theconfidence score may be generated based on a similarity of the entityname to at least one of the entity name in the set of ground truthentity names used to train the machine classifier. The machineclassifier be a supervised machine learning classifier and may receive acorrected entity code for the transaction. The machine classifier may beretrained based on the entity name and the corrected entity code. Assuch, the machine classifier may be trained on merchant locationsimilarity, merchant name similarity and/or transaction similarity toprobabilistically determine the appropriate merchant in the transactiondata and particular MCC for the merchant.

At step 318, upon a determination that the score (e.g. the confidencescore) exceeds a threshold value, the entity classification server mayupdate the entity code in the transaction data with the recommendedentity code. For example, the MCC in the transaction data may be updatedwith the recommended MCC when the confidence score, for example, reachesa 90% threshold. However, any threshold score can be used asappropriate. The recommended entity code (e.g. MCC) may be in astandardized format. It is possible that the machine classifier maydetermine multiple confidence scores associated with multiple MCCs. Theentity classification server may select an MCC as the recommended MCCbased on the comparison of the confidence scores as described in moredetail with respect to FIG. 4.

At step 320, the entity classification server may store the transactiondata with the updated entity code in a database. For example, thetransaction data may be updated and stored in a transaction database.The merchant information with the updated entity code (e.g. MCC) mayalso be store in the EMI database.

At step 322, the entity classification server may generate a transactionsummary including the transaction data and an indication that thetransaction data has been updated. At step 324, the transaction summarymay be provided to a computing device, such as a user device of acustomer. The entity classification server may send a notification tothe user device indicating that the transaction data has been updatedand present the transaction summary to the user device. The transactionsummary may display categories of previously conducted purchases made bya customer. The transaction data may be classified based on the updatedentity code, such as the MCC in the standardized format. The transactionsummary may include one or more reward programs that the customer may beeligible to participate or the rewards that the customer has earned onher accounts.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of a process for determining a recommendedentity code according to one or more aspects of the disclosure. Some orall of the steps of process 400 may be performed using one or morecomputing devices as described herein. In a variety of embodiments, someor all of the steps described below may be combined and/or divided intosub-steps as appropriate.

At step 410, the entity classification server may obtain transactiondata indicating an entity name and an entity code in a non-standardizedformat. This step may be similar to step 310 in FIG. 3. The transactiondata may be obtained from a transaction stream or from a transactiondatabase. At step 420, the entity classification server may determine afirst entity code in a first format from a first remote data store. Thefirst remote data store may be the EMI database or a third-party datastore. The first entity code may be determined based on a match of theentity name in the transaction data to a corresponding record in thefirst remote data store. At step 430, the entity classification servermay determine a second entity code in a second format from a secondremote data store. The second remote data store may be the EMI databaseor a third-party data store. The second entity code may be determinedbased on a match of the entity name in a transaction data to acorresponding record in the second remote data store. At step 440, theentity classification server may generate a first score indicating afirst likelihood that the first entity code correctly identifies theentity using a machine classifier. For example, the first score may be aconfidence score of 80%. At step 450, the entity classification servermay generate a second score indicating a second likelihood that thesecond entity code correctly identifies the entity using the machineclassifier. For example, the second score may be a confidence score of90%. At step 460, the entity classification server may determine arecommended entity code based on a comparison of the first score and thesecond score. For example, the entity classification server maydetermine that the second entity code has a higher confidence score andmay select the second entity code as the recommended entity score. Therecommended entity score may be in a standardized format. For example,the recommended entity score may be based on ISO 18245:2003 standard.

FIG. 5 shows an example user interface generated based on cleansedtransactions according to one or more aspects of the disclosure. In FIG.5, a notification 510 may be sent to a user device 500 with anindication that the transaction record has been updated for thecustomer. User device 500 may display a plurality of categories ofspending (e.g. Categories A-F) that the customer has made in a certainperiod of time (e.g. a month or week). For example, Category A mayinclude expenditures related to catering services, Category B mayinclude expenditures related to grocery stores, Category C may includeexpenditures related to child care services, etc. The customer mayselect a category of spending, such as Category A to see the detailedexpenditures and the transaction summary may display a list ofrestaurants and the related expenditures. The display screen of userdevice 500 may provide an option 520 to display the rewards that thecustomer may have earned or the rewards programs that the customer maybe eligible to participate in the future. It should be noted that anycategories can be displayed in accordance with various aspects of thedisclosure.

One or more aspects discussed herein may be embodied in computer-usableor readable data and/or computer-executable instructions, such as in oneor more program modules, executed by one or more computers or otherdevices as described herein. Generally, program modules includeroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and the likethat perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes when executed by a processor in a computer or other device. Themodules may be written in a source code programming language that issubsequently compiled for execution, or may be written in a scriptinglanguage such as (but not limited to) HTML or XML. The computerexecutable instructions may be stored on a computer readable medium suchas a hard disk, optical disk, removable storage media, solid-statememory, RAM, and the like. As will be appreciated by one of skill in theart, the functionality of the program modules may be combined ordistributed as desired in various embodiments. In addition, thefunctionality may be embodied in whole or in part in firmware orhardware equivalents such as integrated circuits, field programmablegate arrays (FPGA), and the like. Particular data structures may be usedto more effectively implement one or more aspects discussed herein, andsuch data structures are contemplated within the scope of computerexecutable instructions and computer-usable data described herein.Various aspects discussed herein may be embodied as a method, acomputing device, a system, and/or a computer program product.

Although the present invention has been described in certain specificaspects, many additional modifications and variations would be apparentto those skilled in the art. In particular, any of the various processesdescribed above may be performed in alternative sequences and/or inparallel (on different computing devices) in order to achieve similarresults in a manner that is more appropriate to the requirements of aspecific application. It is therefore to be understood that the presentinvention may be practiced otherwise than specifically described withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the present invention. Thus,embodiments of the present invention should be considered in allrespects as illustrative and not restrictive. Accordingly, the scope ofthe invention should be determined not by the embodiments illustrated,but by the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:obtaining transaction data associated with an entity, the transactiondata indicating an entity code and an entity name, wherein the entitycode is in a first format; determining, from a remote data store andbased on the entity name, a recommended entity code and an entitylocation, wherein the recommended entity code is in a standardizedformat; determining the recommended entity code differs from the entitycode; generating, by a machine classifier and based on entity locationand determining the recommended entity code differs from the entitycode, a score indicating a likelihood that the recommended entity codecorrectly identifies the entity indicated in the transaction data;updating, based on the score exceeding a threshold value and therecommended entity code, the entity code, wherein the updated entitycode is in the standardized format; storing, using a database, thetransaction data; generating a transaction summary comprising thetransaction data and an indication that the transaction data has beenupdated; and providing, to a computing device, the transaction summary.2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein: the remote datastore comprises a third-party service; and the method further comprisesdetermining the recommended entity code by querying the third-partyservice to obtain a merchant category code corresponding to the entityname.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein: the remotedata store comprises an entity database; and the method furthercomprises further comprising determining the recommended entity code byquerying the entity database to obtain a ground truth merchant categorycode corresponding to the entity name.
 4. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein: the remote data store comprises athird-party location service; and the method further comprisesdetermining the entity location by querying, using the entity name, thethird-party location service to obtain the entity location.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein: the transaction datafurther comprises an indication of one or more products associated withthe transaction; and the method further comprises determining, based onthe entity code and the one or more products associated with thetransaction, the recommended entity code.
 6. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the transaction data is obtained from a pointof sale device associated with the entity.
 7. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein: the machine classifier is trained based on aset of ground truth entity locations, entity names, and recommendedentity codes; and the score is generated based on a similarity of theentity name to at least one of the entity name in the set of groundtruth entity names used to train the machine classifier.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determininga transaction category for the transaction based on the updated entitycode; and classifying, based on the transaction category, thetransaction data in the transaction summary.
 9. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining, from the computingdevice, a corrected entity code for the transaction; and retraining themachine classifier based on the entity name and the corrected entitycode.
 10. An apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and memorystoring instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors,cause the apparatus to: obtain, from a point of sale device associatedwith an entity, transaction data indicating an entity code, an entityname, and an indication of one or more products associated with thetransaction, wherein the entity code is in a first format; determine,from a remote data store and based on the entity name, a recommendedentity code and an entity location, wherein the recommended entity codeis in a standardized format; determine the recommended entity codediffers from the entity code; generate, by a machine classifier andbased on the entity location, determining the recommended entity codediffers from the entity code, and the one or more products associatedwith the transaction, a score indicating a likelihood that recommendedentity code correctly identifies the entity indicated in the transactiondata; update, based on the score exceeding a threshold value and therecommended entity code, the entity code, wherein the updated entitycode is in the standardized format; store, using a database, thetransaction data; determine, based on the transaction data, atransaction category for the transaction, generate a transaction summarycomprising the transaction data, the transaction category, and anindication that the transaction data has been updated; and provide, to acomputing device, the transaction summary.
 11. The apparatus of claim10, wherein the remote data store comprises a third-party service andthe instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause theapparatus to determine the recommended entity code by querying thethird-party service to obtain a merchant category code corresponding tothe entity name.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the remote datastore comprises an entity database and the instructions, when executedby the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to determine therecommended entity code by querying the entity database to obtain aground truth merchant category code corresponding to the entity name.13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the remote data store comprises athird-party location service and the instructions, when executed by theone or more processors, cause the apparatus to determine the entitylocation by querying, using the entity name, the third-party locationservice to obtain the entity location.
 14. The apparatus of claim 10,wherein: the machine classifier is trained based on a set of groundtruth entity locations, entity names, and recommended entity codes; andthe score is generated based on a similarity of the entity name to atleast one of the entity name in the set of ground truth entity namesused to train the machine classifier.
 15. The apparatus of claim 10,wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors,cause the apparatus to: obtain, from the computing device, a correctedentity code for the transaction; and retrain the machine classifierbased on the entity name and the corrected entity code.
 16. Anon-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that, whenexecuted by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors toperform steps comprising: obtaining, from a point of sale deviceassociated with an entity, transaction data indicating an entity code,an entity name, and an indication of one or more products associatedwith the transaction, wherein the entity code is in a first format;determining, from a remote data store and based on the entity name, arecommended entity code and an entity location, wherein the recommendedentity code is in a standardized format; determining the recommendedentity code differs from the entity code; generating, by a machineclassifier and based on the entity location, determining the recommendedentity code differs from the entity code, and the one or more productsassociated with the transaction, a score indicating a likelihood thatrecommended entity code correctly identifies the entity indicated in thetransaction data; updating, based on the score exceeding a thresholdvalue and the recommended entity code, the entity code, wherein theupdated entity code is in the standardized format; storing, using adatabase, the transaction data; determining, based on the transactiondata, a transaction category for the transaction, generating atransaction summary comprising the transaction data, the transactioncategory, and an indication that the transaction data has been updated;providing, to a computing device, the transaction summary; obtaining,from the computing device, a corrected entity code for the transaction;and retraining the machine classifier based on the entity name and thecorrected entity code.
 17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium ofclaim 16, wherein the remote data store comprises a third-party serviceand the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, causethe one or more processors to perform steps comprising determining therecommended entity code by querying the third-party service to obtain amerchant category code corresponding to the entity name.
 18. Thenon-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the remotedata store comprises an entity database and the instructions, whenexecuted by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processorsto perform steps comprising determining the recommended entity code byquerying the entity database to obtain a ground truth merchant categorycode corresponding to the entity name.
 19. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the remote data storecomprises a third-party location service and the instructions, whenexecuted by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processorsto perform steps comprising determining the entity location by querying,using the entity name, the third-party location service to obtain theentity location.
 20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim16, wherein: the machine classifier is trained based on a set of groundtruth entity locations, entity names, and recommended entity codes; andthe score is generated based on a similarity of the entity name to atleast one of the entity name in the set of ground truth entity namesused to train the machine classifier.